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Approach: The Third of 6 Keys To Building A Life Long
Partnership With Your Horse

In horse training or natural horsemanship, Approach is nothing
more than a technique or method used in helping your horse to
understand what it is you want him to do.

I feel it's important to point out at this time that one of
the major reasons people fail to achieve excellence with their
horse is that they are not mentally, emotionally and physically
fit. The way to achieve this is by being persistent and
consistent in learning and practicing your horse training /
natural horsemanship skills. Remember, It's not your horses
fault, it's your responsibility to be fit if you're to achieve
success and excellence with your horse.

In talking about Approach or techniques, we'll use some
examples to point out some approaches people take in working with
their horses, which are very different from natural
horsemanship.

Let's talk a little about longeing? Most people longe their
horses to exercise them, but let's look at what happens when you
do this. Your horse is going in mindless circles usually circling
to the left and will certainly get stronger physically, but
unfortunately, he will also get mentally weaker because you are
only exercising his body and not his mind. It's important to
exercise both his body and mind.

Now let's look at lateral longeing. This is where we are going
to exercise both your horse's body and mind. First, what are the
differences between longeing and lateral longeing?

In normal longeing, the person is only exercising the horse to
take off the edge so the horse will be easier to ride. I think
it's important to note that if your longeing your horse 15
minutes to take off the edge eventually you will be exercising
him 30 minutes to take off the edge and as you continue this
regime he will become stronger and stronger until you can no
longer handle him.

In lateral longeing, you're looking to develop a communication
system with your horse along with exercising his body and mind,
which will cause your hose to be emotionally collected. This
communication system is built around 6 yields? Your horse going
forward, backward, left, right, up or down. These 6 yields work
into a series of maneuvers, which will exercise your horses mind
and body. By being persistent and using the 6 yields you will
help your horse to be mentally collected and instead of
increasing the time it takes to get your horse under control you
will decrease the time each day. By using lateral longeing you
can help your horse to become mentally collected in a shorter
period of time.

Remember that horses can do only 6 things, but they can do
them in combination? Move forward, backward, left, right, up and
down. Your goal should be to get your horse to go forward,
backward and sideways whenever you ask him. If you can do this,
you will become the Alpha horse in his society.

When you teach your horse to go backwards you are also
teaching him to stop. The better he backs up the better he stops.
When you teach him to go sideways, you are also teaching him to
steer left or right. When moving right or left you are simply
moving his hindquarters or front quarters or moving them both at
the same time to move sideways. Most horsemen will tell you that
the better a horse backs up and goes sideways the better he will
do everything else.

Lateral longeing is different from normal longeing in that you
are exercising your horses mind with his body following naturally
causing your horse to yield to you mentally.

Let' take a quick look at Riding. What do most people do after
saddling and getting on their horse? They kick him to go, rein
him across the neck to turn and pull on him to stop. Instead, why
not get him mentally and emotionally ready before we go riding?
Why not put your horse through the 6 yields? Yes, I know that
takes some time, but is it worth it to you and your horse to be
emotionally and mentally fit before you go riding?

After putting you horse through the 6 yields you're now ready
to mount. After you're mounted, it's time to ask your horse to
move forward. Instead of kicking him to go why not ask him to
move by giving him a cue?

For example, if you want to move your horse forward, put 2 or
3 cues together, put them in order and be consistent with them
and your horse will eventually respond to the cues. An example of
this would be to 1. Squeeze both cheeks of your buttocks tightly.
If that won't cause him to move forward then progress to cue
number 2. Genteelly squeeze with your legs clear to your ankles
and use a verbal cue such as a cluck, kiss or smooch. If this
still won't get him moving forward then progress to cue number 3.
Give your horse a spank, preferably closer to the center of the
tail head. This will start your horse to move straight. If you
spank right or left of center, you will cause your horse to move
off to the left or right.

When using cues remember to start the cue with light pressure
and increasing the pressure, (the pressure should only be for a
few seconds before moving on to the next cue) and if there is no
response move on to the next cue until you get the desired
response. With practice and consistency, your hose will learn to
move off the pressure (cue) at the slightest squeeze of your
buttocks or legs, whichever you decided to use as your cue.

This article is getting long so I will briefly touch on
stopping your horse. There are two ways to stop your horse,
pulling back on the reins which most people use (the horse can
get wise, tuck his chin and keep running) or you can bend your
horses neck around with one rein and cause him to stop. If you
can bend his neck to the right and stop his right side then his
left side is probably not going to run off and vise versa.

I do not recommend letting or allowing your horse to stop on
his own; if you allow this behavior, you will eventually have
problems with keeping your horse moving. You only want your horse
to stop after preparing him with a cue to stop and then giving
him the cue to stop. A cue might be, you bringing down your
energy by putting both hands on your thighs, completely relax and
look down at your tummy, to sum it up, quit riding. Eventually
your horse figures out that you have stopped riding and he will
stop. Remember, you have to be consistent and persistent, it is
not going to happen over night, but eventually your horse will
figure out the cues and you will get the desired response. One
other thing, make sure you keep your horse straight. This will
cause him to stop. Don't worry about him not stopping as quickly
as you like as long as he comes to a stop. As I said before it
takes time to get the desired response.

If you like this article and would like to learn more or would
like to send it to a friend, please feel free to do so. You can
subscribe at: Perfect Horse Gifts or
The
Roundup

In the next article, we will discuss Patients? Be
patient/tolerant, take the time do it right and you won't have to
go back and do it again and again. Helping your horse to
understand what it is you want him to do.

*You have permission to publish this article*
electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your web site, free
of charge, as long as the content of this article is not changed
in any way and the author bylines are included.

If you choose to publish this article, I would appreciate a
Quick e-mail letting me know where it will Be published. Mike@perfect-horse-gifts.com

*DISCLAIMER*: The information contained in this article is of
my personal opinions and beliefs and should not be taken as
anything more.

About The Author:

Mike Gorzalka has spent the better part of his life around
horses. His dad, Mike Sr., taught him the importance of
understanding the horse and how to use a firm, but kinder and
gentler approach to helping horses understand what it is we
humans are trying to communicate.

Chandler Groce carefully decorated her luminary, paying tribute to Ali, her fish she lost in March.

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